I love cottage/shepherds pie. A delicious hearty meal for a cold day. I’ve always wanted to make my own version without the addition of gravy granules. I’m just not crazy on the flavour or maybe I’m just not crazy on artificial flavours… This recipe has no gravy and is flavoured with herbs instead.

Ingredients: Serves 4

For the topping:

• 1kg potatoes, peeled and diced
• Sea salt and ground pepper, to taste
• Pinch of nutmeg
• A drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, to taste

For the filling:

• 700g lean beef mince
• 2 medium onions, finely diced
• 1 large leeks, cleaned, sliced finely
• 2 celery sticks, chopped finely
• 3-4 cloves of garlic, minced
• 2 medium carrots, grated
• 1 cup baby peas, thawed
• 1 tsp worcestershire sauce
• ½ cup of stock, I used my homemade stock
• ½ cup of tomato passata
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 teaspoons dried basil
• 1 teaspoon dried rosemary
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
• Sea salt and ground pepper, to taste

How To:

1. Preheat oven to 190°C.
2. Place the potatoes in a pot of fresh salted water and bring to a boil. Cook until easily pierced by a fork.
3. Add the carrots, onions, leeks, celery garlic and herbs to a pan and cook until the veg is soft. Add the mince and cook until the meat has thoroughly lost it’s pink colour. Break up the mince here to avoid lumps. Add the peas, Worcestershire sauce and stock and stir through. I try to use enough stock to create a little “juice”. If the mixture is too watery you’ll need to simmer off the excess water. Season to taste with sea salt and pepper. Remove from heat and layer in the bottom of a casserole or baking dish.
4. Drain the potatoes. Season with sea salt, ground pepper and nutmeg. Drizzle with a little extra virgin olive oil and mash! Layer on top of the mince layer in the casserole dish and add your own design on top if you like.
5. Bake in the centre of a preheated oven until bubbling and hot- about 25 to 30 minutes.

I hope you’ll enjoy this recipe. Keep in touch on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram for updates and feel free to ask me any questions you may have.

Emma x